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VANCOUVER – Work crews have been busy in the British Columbia legislature over the summer, prying apart desks in the historic chamber and piling them up in hallways as they tried to work out how to fit in six more seats.

The renovation, with an estimated budget of $300,000, including new red carpet, was needed to accommodate 93 members of the legislature who will be sitting there after the Oct. 19 provincial election.

The carpenters and carpet layers weren’t the only ones pondering changes necessitated by the province’s rapidly growing population. B.C.’s major parties are also gearing up to fill those extra seats with help from voters in urban and suburban settings.

“With six new seats comes the need to recruit more volunteers and staff more campaigns, and, of course, the need to spend more money,” NDP campaign director Marie Della Mattia said in a statement.

“But when people are excited about your leader and your plan, raising money and recruiting volunteers is much easier.”

B.C. Conservative campaign director and executive director Angelo Isidorou said more seats means more effort — but also more potential gains.

“Generally speaking, fewer seats means fewer candidates to recruit,” Isidorou said in a written response to questions about the new ridings. “However, some of these redistributed ridings offer the Conservative Party an opportunity to reach more voters in a direct and local way.”

The six additional seats are all in major population centres in southern B.C.

Four are in the Metro Vancouver communities of Langley, Surrey, Burnaby and Vancouver, one is in the Victoria suburb of Langford, and another is in the urban core of Kelowna.

“These are the areas where the province is growing and the population requires additional representation to maintain that representation-by-population,” said Stewart Prest, a political science lecturer at the University of British Columbia.

“So, that’s the general reason why we’re seeing this redrawing of the map, and it’s worth noting that it really places additional weight on the need for parties to win votes in the urban areas of the province.”

David Black, an associate professor of communication and culture at Royal Roads University, said it would be a mistake to automatically assume the new urban seats will favour left-leaning parties such as the NDP.

Black said geographical factors create regional political leanings in places such as the Fraser Valley and the Okanagan, where centre-right parties have been favoured.

“I think this pattern holds in the sense that Langley and Kelowna are not the same as Burnaby, Surrey or even Langford, given how close Langford is to Greater Victoria,” he said.

“What we know from the political science literature is that where you live has a lot to do with how you vote. We think of the left-right spectrum as a political scale, but it is as much geographical as it is ideological.

“Places can choose people because places cluster qualities and features … that amplify and direct people toward certain voting preferences.”

While Black said the new seats shouldn’t be seen as automatically conferring advantage to the NDP, the trend over decades in B.C. showed a provincial electorate moving left, on average.

He said the best evidence of that came in the 2017 provincial election, when the NDP held on to 40 per cent of the popular vote despite another left-leaning party — the BC Greens — garnering almost 17 per cent of votes.

“The fact that the NDP was able to hold 40, even losing that much on their left with the Green Party at 17 (under former leader Andrew Weaver), suggests to me that this axis — which used to be centre-right — has tilted about five percentage points to the left,” Black said, noting population growth was happening mostly in urban centres.

“And so, this phenomenon whereby people in cities tend to vote, more or less, leaning NDP — or Green, for that matter — is the reason I believe we’ve seen this tilt.”

Black said this demographic trend put an imperative on centre-right parties to speak to urban voters more because “that’s where the ridings are.”

He said in an interview in mid-August that while poll numbers for the Conservatives had surged, seat projections on tracking sites still indicated a sizable advantage to the New Democrats due to the number of urban ridings.

“I think this partly reflects a problem that the Conservatives have to solve, and that is the question of vote efficiency,” Black said. “The Conservatives, according to the poll data, are running up the popular vote totals enormously — well over 50 per cent — in the north, but there are relatively few ridings up there whereas the NDP is more competitive in the cities where of course there are more ridings. That’s the path to power.”

Prest cautioned against assuming an NDP advantage.

“They still need to maintain those links with those voters,” he said of the party and voters in the new ridings. “And it also creates opportunities for other parties to try to make inroads, as well.”

The new district boundaries had also meant vast changes in electorate composition for some existing ridings, compared with the last election.

“There’s going to be, I think, a certain amount of reacquainting necessary for voters when they come to pay attention to who is running to represent them in the election,” Prest said, adding even small boundary changes can make a big difference in a close vote.

“Every neighbourhood can make a little bit of difference at the margins,” he said. “And it is specifically at those ridings where essentially the town or the city meets the country, if you like — where the urban meets the suburban or rural areas of the province — that (boundary) changes can have a real effect.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2024.

— With files from Dirk Meissner in Victoria

WINNIPEG – Jesper Wallstedt left a lot Jets hopefuls shaking their heads on Saturday night.

The Minnesota goalie stopped 38 of 40 shots as the Wild whipped Winnipeg 5-2 in an NHL pre-season game.

Ben Jones, Jakub Lauko, Graeme Clarke, Daemon Hunt and Caeden Bankier scored for Minnesota.

Colby Barlow and Colin Miller replied for Winnipeg.

Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves on 28 shots for Winnipeg at the Canada Life Centre.

As per a typically sloppy pre-season game, there were a myriad of turnovers, many of which led to Wild chances and-or goals.

Barlow scored with 46 seconds left on setup from Brayden Yager.

Jones gave the Wild a 5-1 lead early in the third period. He stole the puck from Mason Shaw behind the net and slipped the puck past Kahkonen for an unassisted marker.

Minnesota was close to making it 5-1 but Kahkonen stopped Cameron Crotty on a breakaway with the final seconds of the second period ticking away. The Jets actually outshot Minnesota 29-17 through the first 40 minutes.

The Wild took a 4-0 lead when Lauko blocked a Miller shot at the Minnesota blue line, then raced up the ice with a breakaway. He finished it off by beating Kahkonen cleanly with a wrist shot.

Minnesota upped the score to 3-1 almost midway through the middle frame. Clarke’s shot deflected off a Jet near the front of the net and past Kahkonen. Declan Chisholm assisted.

The Jets finally got on the scoreboard when Miller beat Wallstedt with a wrister from the point with 1:03 left in the opening frame to pull within 2-1. Vladislav Namestnikov assisted.

The Wild had taken a 2-0 first-period lead, converting a pair of power plays. With Hayden Fleury off for tripping, Hunt beat Kahkonen with a slapshot from the blue line. Luke Toporowski and Ryder Ritchie assisted.

Minnesota had opened the scoring on the power play. With Alex Iafallo off for slashing, Bankier pounced on a puck that had bounced off Elias Salomonsson’s skate and beat Kahkonen from in front of the net for an unassisted goal.

The Jets outshot Minnesota 10-5 in the first period with Mason Appleton getting off the most dangerous shot.

NOTES

Finnish defenceman Ville Heinola suffered a setback when it was discovered that an infection had set in where he had had surgery on an ankle fractured during last season’s pre-season. He may require another surgery. That will be updated next week. … Winnipeg’s Fleury reportedly played despite his wife giving birth to a son on Friday night. The defenceman who played for the Tampa Bay Lightning last season, was signed as a free agent the past summer. … The Jets held a moment of silence for Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who were killed by a reportedly drunken driver while cycling.

UP NEXT

Jets: Visit the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday afternoon.

Wild: Visit the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.

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EDMONTON – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have a nickname for the opposition’s end zone. They refer to it as the “chicken box.”

So, after each of running back Brady Oliveira’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns, he did a chicken dance.

Oliveira ran for 127 yards on 18 carries, scored twice and led the surging Blue Bombers to a 27-14 win over the Edmonton Elks Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.

For Oliveira, those were his first two touchdowns of the season, an odd stat for a rusher who has 1,021 yards on the year.

“Man, we got in the chicken box tonight,” said Oliveira. “It felt real good to get that monkey off my back. It really felt good to celebrate with my boys in the end zone.”

For the West Division-leading Bombers (8-6), it was their sixth straight win. The Elks (5-9) lost for just the second time in seven games.

“I dance like a chicken, cluck like a chicken,” said Oliveira. “They call it the chicken box, the chicken coop, when you get in the end zone. So there’s a little bit of a joke going on, over the last couple of weeks, ‘how come I haven’t got in the chicken box?’

“We knew that, whenever it was going to happen, our celebration was to cluck like a chicken. So, that’s exactly what we did.”

While Oliveira had a breakout night, Tre Ford’s return as the Edmonton Elks starting quarterback did not go according to plan

Ford lost a fumble and threw two interceptions.

“I don’t think I played well, I think the turnovers were a big thing, I think that is what killed us and killed some of our drives,” Ford said. “We could have put points up, that’s how the game goes, there’s turnovers in it.

“Obviously you try to limit how many of those you do and I didn’t do a good job of that today.”

With the score tied 10-10 in the fourth quarter, Ford’s underthrown pass was picked off by Blue Bombers linebacker Michael Ayers, who returned the ball to the Elks’ 36-yard line. Oliveira then unleashed a punishing run of 30 yards, followed by a six-yard touchdown scamper, to put the Blue Bombers ahead for good.

Oliveira also scored a late touchdown on a five-yard burst up the middle.

Bombers coach Mike O’Shea said Ayers, a backup, got more playing time because of his impressive work on special teams.

“It was right on time. I think they just had a big run, too. So, he just got up and picked the ball and he was in a bit of no man’s land. But he went up and got it — and good for him. It’s nice for a young guy, when he makes a play, that his teammates are so excited for him.”

Oliveira said the Bombers imposed their will on the Elks late in the game.

“We were getting a lot of good movement up front. You really just start to feel it when you start imposing your will on another grown man. Our offensive line was doing that in the second half, and allowing me to do what I do. I think I ran better in the second half, maybe not being as timid, really I was just getting north and trusting my ability.”

The Elks wasted a fantastic rushing day from Justin Rankin, who went for 157 yards on 14 attempts.

Ford finished with 10 completions on 17 passing attempts, and just 131 yards. Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros went 19-for-27 for 191 yards.

Ford was restored as the Elks starting quarterback for the Winnipeg game, another chapter in the Elks’ quarterback saga., After the Elks lost seven in a row to start the year, Ford supplanted McLeod-Bethel Thompson as the starter. Ford started two games, but was knocked out with a rib injury. A rejuvenated Bethel-Thompson was 3-1 in four subsequent starts, but Elks coach Jarious Jackson made the decision to go back to Ford for the Winnipeg game.

After Ford’s struggles, Bethel-Thompson was reinstated as the Elks quarterback midway through the fourth quarter.

In the first half, Ford fumbled on a quarterback draw and, later in the half, a screen pass bounced off the hands of Elks running back Rankin and into the waiting arms of Bombers’ defensive back Tony Jones.

Jones also recovered a fumble from Elks running back Kevin Brown.

Collaros threw a pick of his own — with Elks defensive back Darrius Bratton snatching the team’s 10th interception over the last three games.

The Bombers scored on their opening drive of the second half, punctuated by an 11-yard touchdown from Collaros to Ontaria Wilson.

Ford responded with the razzle-dazzle he’s become known for in his short CFL career. On a flea-flicker from Rankin, Ford connected on a 26-yard touchdown strike to Geno Lewis. The ball was underthrown after Rankin pitched the ball back to the quarterback, but Lewis adjusted and was able to scamper into the end zone after beating two defenders to the ball.

NOTES

Elks linebacker Nyles Morgan reached the 300-tackle mark for his CFL career. … The Elks’ Leon O’Neal Jr. was ejected for rough play in the third quarter. … The Blue Bombers have won 10 in a row against the Elks.

UP NEXT

This was the first time Winnipeg and Edmonton matched up this season, but they’ll meet again on Friday in the Manitoba capital.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.